Thread: Broken tie bar on my '29 Ford..... What are my options?

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I cheated when I made mine and took the easy way out. I first cut a piece of ss tubing to the right length to slip in there, with a little extra room for some large rubber washers slightly bigger than the tube itself (so the tube wouldn't scratch the horns. Then I needed some way to position the tube squarely in the opening, so I took a holesaw that was about the same size as the inside of the ss tube and cut two wooden spacers out of a piece of 2 x 4 lumber.

When I had those cut out I opened up the 1/4 inch hole that the holesaw left in the center to 5/16, shoved the wooden spacers inside the ends of the ss tube (I had to do a little sanding on the perimeter to get a tight fit), and then placed the whole assembly into the opening between the horns. I had drilled a hole in each end, so I passed a piece of all thread rod through the center and put a chrome washer and chrome acorn nut on each end. When I torqued the two nuts down it pulled the horns in slightly, clamping the spreader bar tightly in place.

Now, you may wonder about the pieces of wood not holding up, but I did that job 20 years ago, and when I just redid my T I used the same pieces, they were in mint condition, so no need to do anything different. I guess they stayed dry from being clamped so tight and the rubber washers up against them.

If you drill a hole in each end one of your horns you can do something similar and save a lot of welding and fabrication. Put some masking tape on the painted surfaces of the horns before you drill, keep using larger drill bits until you get the size you need, and the washer will hide any marks left from the drilling. Just a thought on how to easily fix your problem. If you need better pictures of mine I will shoot some if you ask.


This picture below may show what I am describing a little better.
Don

yes, please post some photos if you can

I'll shoot some tomorrow. If you look at the last picture I just posted, you can envision how a piece of all thread would pass through the center of the tube and a nut would go on each end. Ace Hardware now carries chrome acorn nuts in their bolt section, so you could pick up a couple and it would look finished. The sole purpose of the wood spacers was to center the all thread exactly in the middle of the ss tubing, and it doesn't show once in place.

BTW, I forget where I got the ss tube, but I think it was someplace like Home Depot or Lowes, made for some home use if I remember correctly. Like I mentioned, it is 20 years old and still looks good.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

BTW, I forget where I got the ss tube, but I think it was someplace like Home Depot or Lowes, made for some home use if I remember correctly. Like I mentioned, it is 20 years old and still looks good.
Don

Handicap bathroom hand rail makes a great source of stainless tubing. You can buy it in the big box building supply stores. The ends are bent and flanges welded on but just cut off what you don't need.

Bob

It was something like that Bob, pretty sure. I'll be at the shop tonight and will shoot some pictures and take some measurements. I think it took me all of an hour to fab up mine, it was that simple.

Don

I took three pictures for you but for some reason my computer is screwing up and I can only download one. But it shows pretty much all there is to see. The chrome nut is simply capping an all thread rod that I cut so that only a bit hung out on each side. As I tightened the two nuts it drew the horns in, locking in the spreader bar.

I measured the diameter of the bar, it is 1.5 inches OD, and that seems pretty proportional to the rest of the frame. Hope this info helps out.

Don

Looks great

I'll most likely do the same